4 ms·

>"And what's with the swipe at Bodega, as if is it a sacred cow." Bodegas are small family businesses generally run by immigrants. So yeah they are kind of sac

>"And what's with the swipe at Bodega, as if is it a sacred cow." Bodegas are small family businesses generally run by immigrants. So yeah they are kind of sacred. Wanting to disrupt small family run businesses is kind of a shitty aspiration. And a good example of being out of touch and tone deaf. The rapper referenced in the article if from NYC where bodegas are an institution. bodega.ai's slogan is "Everyday Essentials, Instantly" which is the exact functionality that a real bodega already provides. It's like something right out Mike Judge's "Silicon Valley."

mc32 9y ago
So where was all the opposition and outcry to disrupting all small biz taxi drivers by Uber, or all the mom and pop bookstores by Amazon, etc? It's no different. People celebrate disruption, until they don't. There is no difference in why on the one hand Uber is celebrated but Bodega isn't. Or any number of disruptors who displace small biz and automate and make the biz more efficient, etc.
- veridies 9y ago
  That opposition is constant. Huge numbers of people object to Uber and are concerned about taxi drivers, while Uber has made no effort to alleviate the externalities of their business. And small bookstores, their owners, and their patrons complain constantly about Amazon. Have these criticisms really not reached you?
- bogomipz 9y ago
  First of all taxis have had a government-sanctioned monopoly[1] since the 1930s. So it's not the same at all. In fact medallion owners actually sued to try to protect their monopoly.[2] Disrupting a monopoly is not the same as disrupting a mom and pop business. Further most taxi drivers don't actually own those medallions they are just renting the car for the shift. The reason for this was the medallions fetched well over a million dollars for decades [3] Also taxis aren't a vital resource in a city with 24 hours mass transit system. Whereas access to food and water is. So no its not the same at all, not even close. And the mom and pop book stores were mostly put out of business in the late 1990s and early 2000s by the Barnes and Noble and Borders book chains. The irony is that Amazon had ended up disrupting them. Lastly your whole argument is a strawman - lack of public dissent on one issue does not mean you forfeit the right to dissent on another issues. [1] https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/sites/newyorklawjournal/2017/10/24/taxi-medallion-owners-say-unequal-treatment-is-boosting-uber-lyft/?slreturn=20171117113532 https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/sites/newyorklawjourna... [2] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-newyorkcity-taxis-uber/taxi-owners-lenders-sue-new-york-city-over-uber-idUSKCN0T700J20151118 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-newyorkcity-taxis-uber/ta... [3] https://priceonomics.com/post/47636506327/the-tyranny-of-the-taxi-medallions https://priceonomics.com/post/47636506327/the-tyranny-of-the...
  - mc32 9y ago
    First, taxis exist in more than NYC. Second, what about all the other AutoNation, like automating the jobs of paralegals, and myriad other jobs getting automated, where is the outrage? I don't see it outside affected groups, there is no hashtagrage for all those other sectors being disrupted or flat out shipped overseas. What's so special about bodegas? Why isn't Dominoes ostracized for displaying mom and pop pizza joints?
    - bogomipz 9y ago
      If you go back and read your own context you asked: >"And what's with the swipe at Bodega, as if is it a sacred cow." The "swipe" was not by the author but by a NYC-based rapper on twitter. Someone for whom bodegas would be essential. I've articulated why bodegas would be considered special to someone for whom they serve an essential neighborhood function. I have also explained how this is different than the Taxi medallion monopoly systems and bookstores. Yes taxis exist outside of New York City and cities such as Chicago, S.F and Boston also have regulated monopolies via a taxi medallion system. You really don't seem to have any kind of arguments other than asking "what about __?" questions.

mc32 9y ago

So where was all the opposition and outcry to disrupting all small biz taxi drivers by Uber, or all the mom and pop bookstores by Amazon, etc? It's no different. People celebrate disruption, until they don't. There is no difference in why on the one hand Uber is celebrated but Bodega isn't. Or any number of disruptors who displace small biz and automate and make the biz more efficient, etc.

veridies 9y ago
That opposition is constant. Huge numbers of people object to Uber and are concerned about taxi drivers, while Uber has made no effort to alleviate the externalities of their business. And small bookstores, their owners, and their patrons complain constantly about Amazon. Have these criticisms really not reached you?
bogomipz 9y ago
First of all taxis have had a government-sanctioned monopoly[1] since the 1930s. So it's not the same at all. In fact medallion owners actually sued to try to protect their monopoly.[2] Disrupting a monopoly is not the same as disrupting a mom and pop business. Further most taxi drivers don't actually own those medallions they are just renting the car for the shift. The reason for this was the medallions fetched well over a million dollars for decades [3] Also taxis aren't a vital resource in a city with 24 hours mass transit system. Whereas access to food and water is. So no its not the same at all, not even close. And the mom and pop book stores were mostly put out of business in the late 1990s and early 2000s by the Barnes and Noble and Borders book chains. The irony is that Amazon had ended up disrupting them. Lastly your whole argument is a strawman - lack of public dissent on one issue does not mean you forfeit the right to dissent on another issues. [1] https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/sites/newyorklawjournal/2017/10/24/taxi-medallion-owners-say-unequal-treatment-is-boosting-uber-lyft/?slreturn=20171117113532 https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/sites/newyorklawjourna... [2] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-newyorkcity-taxis-uber/taxi-owners-lenders-sue-new-york-city-over-uber-idUSKCN0T700J20151118 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-newyorkcity-taxis-uber/ta... [3] https://priceonomics.com/post/47636506327/the-tyranny-of-the-taxi-medallions https://priceonomics.com/post/47636506327/the-tyranny-of-the...
- mc32 9y ago
  First, taxis exist in more than NYC. Second, what about all the other AutoNation, like automating the jobs of paralegals, and myriad other jobs getting automated, where is the outrage? I don't see it outside affected groups, there is no hashtagrage for all those other sectors being disrupted or flat out shipped overseas. What's so special about bodegas? Why isn't Dominoes ostracized for displaying mom and pop pizza joints?
  - bogomipz 9y ago
    If you go back and read your own context you asked: >"And what's with the swipe at Bodega, as if is it a sacred cow." The "swipe" was not by the author but by a NYC-based rapper on twitter. Someone for whom bodegas would be essential. I've articulated why bodegas would be considered special to someone for whom they serve an essential neighborhood function. I have also explained how this is different than the Taxi medallion monopoly systems and bookstores. Yes taxis exist outside of New York City and cities such as Chicago, S.F and Boston also have regulated monopolies via a taxi medallion system. You really don't seem to have any kind of arguments other than asking "what about __?" questions.